Should I try and get interest only mortgage whilst divorce still going on.

banthecar

pinkshoes wrote: »

School fees???

Definitely speak to the mortgage provider about going onto interest only. Use the online calculator to work out how much this would save you:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/property/mortgagecalculator.shtml

How much equity is in the house? Why did your ex reject the offer?

Also, why can your ex not work full time given you are working two jobs?

Good questions, there is about £70000 equity in the house.
It was incredibly frustrating that she rejected the offer - she probably thought that there wouldn't be enough for her to buy a new place. We don't speak, it was a no blame divorce but she is very highly strung (i'll not go in to much detail here but im sure you get the idea of where i'm coming from).
It didnt seem that there was anything that could be done to make her accept the offer (does anyone know if 1 partner can be made to sell in the case of divorce?)
Why she only works part time is beyond me - i'm sure she would claim it is to look after the 14 year old but he's a big boy now and im working 2 jobs whilst my 16 year old fends for herself.

RAS

Does £70K cover the costs of the house renovation?

You need to get good advice on the financial settlement; your lawyers need to ask hers what action she has taken to obtain full-time work.

Also ask for an order for sale as part of the financial settlement.

banthecar

banthecar wrote: »

Good questions, there is about £70000 equity in the house.
It was incredibly frustrating that she rejected the offer - she probably thought that there wouldn't be enough for her to buy a new place. We don't speak, it was a no blame divorce but she is very highly strung (i'll not go in to much detail here but im sure you get the idea of where i'm coming from).
It didnt seem that there was anything that could be done to make her accept the offer (does anyone know if 1 partner can be made to sell in the case of divorce?)
Why she only works part time is beyond me - i'm sure she would claim it is to look after the 14 year old but he's a big boy now and im working 2 jobs whilst my 16 year old fends for herself.

school fees situation is slightly different here in Northern Ireland, They both passed their 11 plus so are at different grammar schools where a small fee is paid every year. I think it adds up to about £400 for both of them combined each year.

banthecar

RAS wrote: »

Does £70K cover the costs of the house renovation?

You need to get good advice on the financial settlement; your lawyers need to ask hers what action she has taken to obtain full-time work.

Also ask for an order for sale as part of the financial settlement.

The debts re: rennovation are between 15 and 20 k and we also owe my dad 10k from when we bought the house.
What does the order for sale involve?

lazer

stop putting money into the joint account.

If you are putting £800 a month into this to pay the mortgage, cancel teh direct debit an start a new one from your own account that way your exwife can't dip into the mortgage money and you can be sure it is paid.

BigAunty

banthecar wrote: »

Good questions, there is about £70000 equity in the house.
It was incredibly frustrating that she rejected the offer - she probably thought that there wouldn't be enough for her to buy a new place. We don't speak, it was a no blame divorce but she is very highly strung (i'll not go in to much detail here but im sure you get the idea of where i'm coming from).

That's a shame - it is the market that determines the value of the property, not how much the owner feels they need to extract out of it to buy an onward place. If that is her primary driver, then you may find she will never be satisfied for even if your house does rise in value or get better offers, the local market rises too so buying another property does not necessarily work out any cheaper.

To force a sale, you'd need to get a court order - ask on the Housing forum. It won't be tied to getting a divorce - any joint owner can do it. I don't have much knowledge of it but understand it can be an expensive and time consuming process to get the court order to force a sale.

Have you considered she may demand an occupancy order that obliges you to let her stay there until your youngest turns 18?

Perhaps one way of applying pressure is to say that after x date, you won't pay towards the mortgage - the lender doesn't care who pays so will go after either or both owners if there are arrears, so your credit record may take a hit and there's always a change of repossession which will wipe out all equity, so is quite a risky strategy. See the Shelter website to understand the issues with arrears/repossession.

To sort out a debt repayment strategy, post a SOA on the Debt Free wanabee forum - the members there will tell you how to do this and they will be able to help you come up with a more manageable way to pay your debts and living expenses, other than flogging yourself to death with 2 jobs. This may include how to get your debts written off, reduced to a much more manageable sum based on your disposable income or bankruptcy with the equity in the property being used to pay your creditors.

At the snails rate in progress in negotiating and agreeing a settlement and the deliberate dragging of feet by your ex in selling the property, perhaps a request for an occupation order by your ex, and you may not see any equity from the property for years, if at all.

banthecar wrote: »

Why she only works part time is beyond me - i'm sure she would claim it is to look after the 14 year old but he's a big boy now and im working 2 jobs whilst my 16 year old fends for herself.

Well, she doesn't have to, does she, she probably likes the life/work balance that you are subsidising.

If she only earns part time money, she can continue to frustrate the sale process by insisting she can't afford a new property, can't she? I don't know many people who work part time that get mortgage offers...If she does get full time work, with a deposit from the equity, is a 2 bedroom property to the same standard and location of your current property still actually affordable?

Also, if she does get a lump sum from the current property being sold, it will quickly shrivel in rental payment and council tax payment and she won't qualify for any means tested benefits for a sum over 16k in capital. It's probably not attractive to her that her nest egg gets used to pay for her living expenses over the next few years.

There's no incentive for her to sell the property, really, she's probably quite comfortable there with you picking up the majority of the expenses, she's not feeling the pinch.

Perhaps she's done the maths and has worked out that she's better off cruising along on part time work in your joint property until her youngest leaves home and then buying a 1 bed place then, instead of stretching herself now for years and having to work twice as many hours?

Does the £1400 income she gets includes any child tax, working tax credits, council tax discount and child benefit?

Lone parents only have to work 16 hours to qualify for WTC, though she appears to be earning fairly good money for a part time role if that sum excludes benefits (many lone parents earn minimum wage of around £100 a week and get a big top up in child tax and working tax credits, though they are usually 'better off' if they are tenants due to housing benefit as there is much less support for home owners and none for those in any kind of employment).

The Turn2us online benefit calculator will give you an idea of her entitlements, or your entitlements, if you decide you want to work 16 hours per week and get state top-ups. I believe that lone parents whose property is up for sale can qualify for Housing Benefit elsewhere on a rental property for at least 6 months so that could help you. Check the position on the Benefits forum.

A non-resident parent is only expected by the CSA to pay 15% of their net income in child maintenance to the parent with care of 1 child but can negotiate their own settlement.

banthecar

BigAunty wrote: »

................
Perhaps one way of applying pressure is to say that after x date, you won't pay towards the mortgage - the lender doesn't care who pays so will go after either or both owners if there are arrears, so your credit record may take a hit and there's always a change of repossession which will wipe out all equity, so is quite a risky strategy.
...................
At the snails rate in progress in negotiating and agreeing a settlement and the deliberate dragging of feet by your ex in selling the property, perhaps a request for an occupation order by your ex, and you may not see any equity from the property for years, if at all.
.....................

Does the £1400 income she gets includes any child tax, working tax credits, council tax discount and child benefit?


.

Yeah, I've considered just stopping all payments. If i'd done that when there was the offer on the house it might have forced her to accept the sale.
When you consider that i've paid nearly £20,000 over the last 2 years towards that house, I would have been better saving that up for a new deposit. When debts and fees are cleared i'd probably only end up with about 20 to 30 k anyway, if that.

yes, she is getting some tax credits, not sure how much though.

Mojisola

banthecar wrote: »

They both passed their 11 plus so are at different grammar schools where a small fee is paid every year. I think it adds up to about £400 for both of them combined each year.

Pay this sort of bill directly rather than putting it in an account where it could be spent on anything.

tyllwyd

I don't know if lenders are still willing to do this, but a few years ago we needed to reduce our monthly mortgage payments and we were able to extend the term on our existing mortgage. If that's an option, it would be easier & cheaper than trying to remortgage.